The Gautams were scheduled to fly to Barcelona by an early morning Jet Airways flight on the 20th of November. It was 19th and Barkha couldn’t wait any longer to leave the country. The journey on the following day was tiresome. Kabir was mostly cribbing due to lack of sleep and Barkha was already drowning in mental, emotional and physical exhaustion.
While they were boarding the flight, Barkha saw Samay, at the café with some woman. Since he was in his uniform, so she assumed that he was probably going to board his flight. Before Kabir could spot his father, Barkha quickly walked towards her boarding gate.
The hostess at the gate checked their IDs and asked Barkha, “Ma’am, is everything alright?”
Just then Anjum and Raghaven, who were busy handling the bags, looked at Barkha, and found tears welling in her eyes as she stood aghast.
Kabir : Mumma, you are crying mumma. What happened mumma? Mumma….
Barkha felt embarrassed at the unsought attention as she didn’t realize that she was crying in public.
“I am fine, thank you, sorry I didn’t realize, I am fine.”
Anjum : What happened Barkha? Tell me first.
Barkha : Ma, don’t react please, just look on your left towards the café there.
Barkha had barely finished guiding Anjum, Raghaven became furious on spotting Samay with a woman and started to storm towards him. But was pulled back by Anjum, who tried to calm him down and told him not to unnecessarily ruin their journey.
To the Gautams’ relief, Samay was boarding some other flight, while they commenced their journey to Barcelona. The pilot’s greetings on board obviously sent Barkha back into some unforgettable reminiscences.
As planned, they reached Barcelona on time and headed to the hotel. Kabir was cranky as being a jumpy kid, it was quite a task to travel with him long distances in confined spaces of an airplane. Barkha was a little nervous about the new life that awaited her, professionally as well as personally, but she was determined.
She joined the University college and was quite pleased by the response from her students on the very first day. Everything was just the right amount of what she wanted. Months passed. Kabir would often come up with questions regarding his father, but Barkha knew all sorts of ways to distract the little one from the unwanted chaos of all that was beyond his understanding.
It was on a February afternoon when Barkha was stepping out of her college after a hectic teaching schedule. Usually she used to pick up Kabir from school on her way back, but running late that day, she told Raghaven to do the needful. Just then she saw a familiar face, standing outside the college gates. Not even in her faintest hopes, did she hope for this man to show up just out of nowhere. Yes, it was him, Sakshar stood there watching Barkha approach him, with inexplicable expressions of surprise and lots of questions.
Romances Which Could've Been.... 